El Cenote
El Cenote (also known as the Cantina, or Cantina del Cenote, after it's headquarters) is a secret society formed in response to the Kit's Crater Five gaining their powers along with many other first-born children within Kit's Crater who have manifested arcane powers after the events of Kit's Crater Grange Fair in the Summer of 1986. Because both OPSR and the Golden Cloister represent an existential threat to these individuals, El Cenote serves as a source of mutual protection for it's members, concealing their activities and providing safe harbor from external threats.
The name of El Cenote is meant to invoke the underground nature of the organization, both figuratively as a secret organization and literally as an organization hailing from a base of operations adjacent to many underground bodies of water.
Structure
El Cenote is headed by a council consisting of the Kit's Crater Five (Bill Price, Cody C. Punsch, Reed Vanguard II, Joey "Fritz" Fitzgerald, and Anita Baker) and Maximus "Max" Force, with other subsequent members serving in an advisory capacity. All members of El Cenote are expected to be ready to jump into missions which serve the purposes of the whole, though the organization's first responsibility above all else is to protect it's members from the Golden Cloister, OPSR, and the law.
Assets
El Cenote possesses only the assets that each member bring to it, save for the the Cantina del Cenote itself. The Force family's spare barn served as the illicit meeting spot of the Kit's Crater Five until Bill and Max arrived at the decision to dig out the Cantina del Cenote from beneath the barn's floor. The Cantina is an underground sanctuary, named as such for it's Spanish mission architecture and the presence of a bar serving as a "front-within-a-front" on the uppermost level, beneath the barn. Even the Toros, the non-magical allies of El Cenote, are not made aware of the true extent of the Cantina; to the Toros, the Cantina is merely a place to get drunk, play cards, and hide from Duke and his goons.
Sects
While the overarching goal of El Cenote is mutual protection, the opinion of the organization is divided over the question of what the ultimate place of spellcasters will be in the world.
The Coexistence Party, headed by Max, believes that humanity should be gradually introduced to the reality of magic by the subtle machinations of El Cenote and similar groups; the Golden Cloister, with their tyrannical and profane nature, would not be good shepherds for the world in this regard. The Coexisters believe that, even once the Golden Cloister and OPSR are removed from Kit's Crater, El Cenote should continue to operate in secret until a certain critical mass of the local population has been gradually introduced to magic.
The Freedom Party faction, led by Lily Parsons if she survives her encounter with the Kit's Crater Five, believes that spellcasters should not be persecuted for their unique gifts. In this view, spellcasters should be free to practice their craft openly, without fear of capture, murder, or reprisal. Unfortunately, since no normal person can be trusted not to turn on spellcasters for money, fame, or in the service of some government or organization seeking to do them harm, the Freedom Party believes that El Cenote should secure a "homeland" for spellcasters, meaning that El Cenote will have to convince, coerce, or forcibly remove non-spellcasters from Kit's Crater.
Founding Date
September 10, 1986
Type
Secret, Occult
Alternative Names
Cantina del Cenote
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Comments